Capital punishment

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Transcript of Capital punishment

Capital Punishment There often two distinct phases when it comes to the prosecutor requesting the death penalty; conviction and sentencing (guilty/innocence). Then there are special motions; for instance, extra time for selecting jury, all of these extra motions start to add up. Investigation costs go up in capital punishment cases. If the prisoner is convicted with anything less than the death penalty the taxpayers still have to absorb the extra financial cost of a capital trial and pretrial. Plus absorbing the cost of either housing the the inmate for life or the cost of a retrial. On June 19, 1970 United States Congress authorized the federal death penalty. Since then there have been 343 federal execution, only two of that total number have been women. 1776-1800 Only treason and murder were justification for the death penalty in Virginia. George Kendall was the first person to be executed in North America in 1608. From 1833 to 1853 many people protested public execution (hangings). The people felt that public executions were cruel. Many states stopped having public hangings after the reform New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maine and New Jersey all passed laws for private hangings. In 1897 Congress passed a bill changing, but not abolishing death penalty laws across the United States. Cyanide gas was first used in 1924 in Nevada by pumping the gas into Gee Jon's jail cell while he was sleeping. Technical difficulties gave way to the creation of gas chambers. Michigan was the first state in 1846 to abolish capital punishment; this state had not executed anyone since the 1830's. Over the next six year these states voted to get rid of capital punishment altogether; North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Minnesota, Tennessee, Arizona, Kansas and Oregon. Only 3 people have faced federal execution since 1988,Timothy McVeigh on June 11, 2001Juan Raul Garza on June 19, 2001 Louis Jones on March 18, 2003. Life sentences over death sentence are the choice of federal juries, two to one will choose a life sentence over a death sentence. Capital Punishment what is it? legally killing somebody as a punishment for a crime. The cost of capital punishment is several times more than keeping an inmate locked of for life. Clogging up the court system with endless appeals become a financial burden to taxpayers. When I started this project I was a supporter of capital punishment, however; now that I studied the financial cost to a taxpayer I've taken a different stand on the matter. I don't think it should be abolished, but there needs to be something done to cut the cost down, and still be able to get closure for the victims family. I don't believe in the saying "An eye for an eye." When a crime in so heinous I think something should be done and if that is the death penalty then so be it. Conclusion In 1972 after the federal death penalty took a 16 year hiatus. In 1988 the federal death penalty was reinstated. Reports show that race plays a role in capital punishment. In 2007 the American Bar Association concluded that 1/3 of African-American in Philadelphia received life in prison because of their skin color. (Reggio, n.d.) (Reggio, n.d) ("Capital Punishment," n.d) ("Capital Punishment," n.d.) ("History of capital punishment in California, n.d: Amnesty International, 2012) ("Amnesty International," 2012) ("Amnesty International ," 2012) (Reggio, n.d.) "History of Capital Punishment in the United States" Life sentence vs. Death sentence The cost of doing business For the State of California the estimated annual cost of the death penalty is about $232.7 million per year. For a life sentence without possibility of parole will cost up to $11.5 million per year. ("Because Freedom Can't Protect itself," n.d) African-Americans are three time more likely to receive the death penalty if the crime committed was against a white person. References

American Civil Liberties Union. (n.d). Because freedom can’t protect itself. Retrieved from http://www.aclu.org/capital-punishment/case-against-death-penaltyAmnesty International. (May, 2012). Know the facts about capital punishment. Retrieved from http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/issues/death-penalty/us-death-penalty-factsBalanced Politics. (n.d). Should the death penalty be banned as a form of punishment. Retrieve from http://www.balancedpolitics.org/death_penalty.htmCalifornia Department of Correction & Rehabilitation. (n.d). History of capital punishment in

Death Penalty. (n.d). Working for alternatives to the death penalty. Retrieved from

http://www.deathpenalty.org/

Henslin, J. M. (2011). Social Problem A Down To Earth Approach (pp 172-174,180-182,185). Boston: Person Higher Education.Reggio, M. H. (n.d). History of the death penalty. Frontline the Execution. Retrieved from http:www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/execution/reading/history.html